I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to bed liners for pickup trucks and, more particularly, to a bed liner having a graphics display.
II. Description of the Prior Art
Protective liners for the cargo areas of vehicles such as pickup trucks are well known. These liners protect the finish of the sheet metal from damage occurring during transportation of cargo. The liner typically has a bottom wall, a pair of side walls, and a front wall which are formed to conform with the slope of the truck bed by vacuum molding. The liners are either formed with top flanges to extend "over-the-rail" of the truck bed as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,111,481, or without flanges so that they may be disposed under the rail, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,592,583. Typically, the bottom floor is ribbed to provide strength and facilitate drainage of rain water. Generally, a separate rectangular panel is mounted by screws to the tailgate of the truck, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,372,397. Previously known liners have suffered from a number of drawbacks.
Recently, it has become a custom to affix the name of the manufacturer, vehicle, or dealership in the front wall of the truck bed liner, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,308,133. The name or logo of the manufacturer of the vehicle or bed liner is molded into the bed liner. The letters or graphics extend outwardly away from the front wall toward the rear of the vehicle. Recently, "private label" liners bearing the name or logo of the dealer have been produced. The name or indicia of the dealer is molded into the liner in the location where the indicia of the manufacturer or vehicle maker is normally molded on the front wall. A specially formed mold portion, having the indicia of the manufacturer or the dealer, is substituted in the mold of the liner to form the indicia. However, such a procedure is time consuming and expensive. Moreover, it is very costly to maintain an inventory of all models of "private label" liners for each of the dealers.
There have been problems with ribbed floor bottoms. The top of the ribs of the floor of the bottom portion of the truck bed liner do not provide sufficient friction to keep cargo from sliding during turning and rapid acceleration and deceleration. Some manufacturers spray the liner with a coating which provides greater friction on the floor surface. However, bed liner material with this coating is not recyclable. Thus, scrap from the formation of the truck bed liners must be discarded and cannot be reused.
Finally, most of the materials used for forming the liners shrinks and expands with temperature changes. Panels screwed to the tailgate can frequently warp or distort. Additionally, some manufacturer's rust resistance warranties are voided when additional holes are drilled for the screws. Accordingly, it would be desirable to overcome these and other problems associated with truck bed liners.
It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide a truck bed liner which has a portion formed in the front wall for the easy and economical installation of a manufacturer or dealer's name or logo.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a device for keeping cargo in the bed liner from sliding.
Finally, it is an object of the invention to provide an improved method of affixing the tailgate liner panel to the tailgate.